Explain the Franklin/Vandy Love to Me

The non-sense around James Franklin's "men of honor" quotes (or misquote, if you have any reason to believe him) continues.  We all know it was Kiffin level douchebaggery when he said it. Also, he knew exactly what he was saying, when he said it, and that he did so intentionally.  We all thought it interesting on the day he said it, since he had gotten one of those men to leave North Carolina after the kid began orientation.

Yeah, Larry Fedora isn't impressed:

“What does [Franklin] say about the kids that were committed elsewhere and de-committed from their places to go to his place? That’s my comment. What is his comment on those people? He’s got someone in his recruiting class that did that very thing. He’s saying those guys are not men of honor? Basically, he’s saying he has got kids in his own recruiting class that are not men of honor. He said that, and I didn’t.”

Hey, I love me a good pissing contest.  My money is on the guy who is named after a hat, as opposed to an asshat. Blutarsky, as per usual, has a good take on that side of it.

My question is this: What about Franklin's actions suddenly make him some cult hero or actually make Vanderbilt a force to be reckoned with? Just talking to the casual Georgia (or SEC, for that matter) fan, you would think he signed a Top 10 class.  He did...Top 10 in the conference. Yes, they were more competitive than normal, but they beat no team with a winning record.  The closest they came was their game against Georgia.

Someone is going to have to explain to me why Franklin isn't Lane Kiffin, but with a lesser coaching pedigree. Is it because of his 'We aren't going to take it' attitude and the fact he wanted to fight Todd Grantham?

What I saw was a team that was undisciplined to the point of danger and that had the inability to close. Definitely sounds like Kiffin to me.

TD

Well....so much for a boring off season

The entire college football universe may change more in the next 48 hours than it has at any other compressed period of time in history with a likely end to the Big 12, and the trickle down impacts of that decision. Along with a much shorter term impact, but loud in the near term slapping of Southern Cal.

The latest on USC appears to be 20 lost scholarships, a two year bowl ban, and the optional penalty free release of upperclassmen to transfers. Bama fans still won't be pleased because it's not quite as bad as they got. But then again....the link tying the football staff at Bama to the Means saga was more concrete than the link tying Bush to the USC staff. I expect that much of this initial probation from the NCAA is for show. About a year later, they'll come back and soften the punishment a little.

Here's the big question on USC. Will the scholarship reduction begin immediately, or will it begin after the appeal? Ideally for Southern Cal haters, the penalty will begin after the appeal. Which means, they could damage an additional recruiting class before the sanctions even start while in limbo.

PWD

NY Times Investigating Vol Recruiting

The New York Times reports tonight that the NCAA has launched an investigation into the Tennessee Vols use of hostesses for the recruitment of student athletes including Marcus Lattimore, Brandon Willis, Corey Miller, Chris Dunkley, Chris Dunkley, JaWuan James and others (per the article).

The hostesses are alleged to have been involved in recruiting players off campus...as far away as 200 miles. University representatives can't recruit off campus.

The article is an intriguing read. Developing.

PWD

Mark Richt drinks the Coffee

For a staff that "can't close well," they did pretty damn well. Orson Charles picked UGA yesterday. Scout lists Georgia's signing day or later kids as a 5 star WR, a 4 star DT and a 5 star defensive tackle. Blake from Mitch & Murray is impressed.

Scout lists UGA as having signed the #6 class in the nation. Rivals has the class at #8. Georgia is the only SEC East school in the Scout.com Top 10 final recruiting ranking. The class only has 19 signees so its ranking isn't as high as other larger classes. However, the class has the 2nd highest "average star rating" for Scout.com and is tied for 4th highest average star rating on Rivals.

(Update: They updated both Scout and Rivals rankings since I first published this. We're up to 4th and 6th respectively. All the other stats have been updated as well. See links above.)

I say all of this to say this....

I really don't care about ratings. Other than DE, I think they got everything they needed in this class. All of the bitching and moaning about "closing well" on signing day never made any sense to me to start with. What difference does it make if they commit in Feb. or Sept?

Anyway...it's a strong class, and I'm eager to see what we do with them.

PWD

Mark Richt drinks the Coffee

For a staff that "can't close well," they did pretty damn well. Orson Charles picked UGA yesterday. Scout lists Georgia's signing day or later kids as a 5 star WR, a 4 star DT and a 5 star defensive tackle. Blake from Mitch & Murray is impressed.

Scout lists UGA as having signed the #6 class in the nation. Rivals has the class at #8. Georgia is the only SEC East school in the Scout.com Top 10 final recruiting ranking. The class only has 19 signees so its ranking isn't as high as other larger classes. However, the class has the 2nd highest "average star rating" for Scout.com and is tied for 4th highest average star rating on Rivals.

(Update: They updated both Scout and Rivals rankings since I first published this. We're up to 4th and 6th respectively. All the other stats have been updated as well. See links above.)

I say all of this to say this....

I really don't care about ratings. Other than DE, I think they got everything they needed in this class. All of the bitching and moaning about "closing well" on signing day never made any sense to me to start with. What difference does it make if they commit in Feb. or Sept?

Anyway...it's a strong class, and I'm eager to see what we do with them.

PWD